Comparison

neo Drone vs TETSUO

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

neo Drone

This music app uses your device's camera to track hand movements, allowing you to control a virtual synthesizer without touching the screen. Explore a 2.5-octave range with legato and staccato modes, and use the touch area as a kill switch for unique vocal synth sounds.

Highlights
  • Camera-controlled pitch
  • Touch-based kill switch
  • 2.5 octave tonal range
  • Adjustable light sensitivity
  • Core MIDI support
  • Legato and staccato modes
Features
Read full description

neo Drone is innovative theremin like synthesizer. The pitch of the oscillators is controlled by moving your hand in the air without touching the device. The hand is tracked by the front face camera. Description video to see it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qACS_XJ_cg The algorithm behind was made by me on the second Music Hakathon in Sofia. You can control the range of the synth by adjusting the light sensitivity, but the app is not working in dark environments. The tonal range is 2 and a half octaves and you can play in legato and staccato mode. The touch area of the device is working as a kill switch so you can produce these talking synth sound. Features: - play without touching the device - kill switch - 2.5 octaves - adjust camera range with light sensitivity slider - core midi - so you can add USB midi keyboard to the show - nice and fat sound - visual color indicator for the playing note - legato and staccato mode

About

TETSUO

This app offers a unique, generative percussion experience with no pre-loaded samples. It features a complex sound engine and a dynamic sequencer that can be unpredictable, allowing for negotiation rather than direct programming. Create and save evolving soundscapes with its section-based recording system.

Highlights
  • Chaotic percussion engine
  • No samples or library
  • Resonant filter and bitcrusher
  • Dynamic 16-slot sequencer
  • Randomized hit skipping
  • Section-based sound recording
  • AUv3 and standalone support
Read full description

TETSUO is a chaotic percussion machine. No samples, no library. One voice built out of a pitched body with noise dragged through it, a resonant filter that saturates the harder you lean on it, a bitcrusher, and a waveshaper that runs from a bit of weight to total structural failure. The sequencer is sixteen unseen slots and STEPS knob decides how many of them fire, adding and taking away hits one at a time in a fixed order, so you can strip a pattern to the bone and build it back and the same beats come home. The SKIP control works against you on purpose, stealing hits at random while it plays, so it never quite settles. MUTATE modulates the pitch at random, setting fire to voices on every turn. You do not program TETSUO so much as negotiate with it. The strip along the top is how you attempt to hold onto anything. Sixty four steps, four turns of pattern, carved into as many as eight sections. Select a section. Find a sound. Hit RECORD, and that section keeps every knob position. Change it, record the next, then hit PLAY and it walks left to right dropping each snapshot in as it reaches it, looping. Drag the dividers to give a section longer or cut it short. It keeps settings, not audio, so the engine is playing live the entire way through. Sections save with your presets and your session. Fifteen factory presets to start from, and your own saved alongside them. A preset stores the knobs and the whole arrangement together. Tap the round gauge in the middle for presets, settings and the manual. AUv3 plugin and standalone app. Follows host tempo and transport, twelve automatable parameters, full MIDI control, factory and user presets, and a manual built into the app.

Screenshots

neo Drone2 screens
TETSUO4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: TETSUO at 100% against neo Drone's 0%. TETSUO also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 43 months). neo Drone's advantage is price ($2.99 vs $5.99) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.6). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

neo Drone costs $2.99 and TETSUO $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

neo Drone ships an update every 43 months, TETSUO monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
neo Drone versus TETSUO: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameterneo DroneTETSUO
Price$2.99 — better$5.99
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 43 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAleksandar MlazevAnthony Moran

Customer experience

neo Drone

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

TETSUO

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

neo Drone

No in-app purchases

None

TETSUO

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is neo Drone free?
neo Drone costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is TETSUO free?
TETSUO costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do neo Drone or TETSUO have ads?
Neither neo Drone nor TETSUO shows ads.
Which is updated more often, neo Drone or TETSUO?
neo Drone ships an update every 43 months, and TETSUO monthly. Most recently, neo Drone was updated on November 2, 2026 and TETSUO on November 5, 2026.

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